MALLERY. } INVITATIONS. 365 
to all comers, who generally were the aboriginal ‘“ tramps,” with the 
result of waste and subsequent famine. 
The Rey. Peter Jones (4), an educated Ojibwa missionary, in speak- 
ing of the eastern bands of the Ojibwa says: 
Their method of imploring the favor or appeasing the anger of their deities is by 
ottering sacrifices to them in the following order: When an Indian meets with ill- 
luck in hunting, or when afflictions come across his path, he fancies that by the 
neglect of some duty he has incurred the displeasure of his munedoo, for which he 
is angry with him; and in order to appease his wrath, he devotes the first game he 
takes to making a religious feast, to which he invites a number of the principal men 
and women from the other wigwams. A young man is generally sent as a messenger 
to invite the guests, who carries with him a bunch of colored quills or sticks, about 
4 inches long. On entering the wigwam he shouts out ‘‘ Keweekomegoo;” that is, 
“You are bidden to a feast.” He then distributes the quills to such as are invited; 
these answer to the white people’s invitation cards. When the guests arrive at the 
feast-maker’s wigwam the quills are returned to him; they are of three colors, red, 
green, and white; the red for the aged, or those versed in the wahbuhnoo order; the 
ereen for the media order, and the white for the common people. 
Mr. David Boyle (b) refers to the above custom, and quotes Rey. Peter 
Jones, also giving as illustrations copies of the quills and sticks pre- 
Fic. 473.—Ojibwa invitations. 
sented by Dr. P. EK. Jones which had been brought by his father, the 
author above mentioned, from the Northwest fifty years ago. These 
are reproduced in Fig. 473. 
When the ceremony of the Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibwa is 
to be performed, the chief midé/ priest sends out a courier to deliver to 
each member an invitation to attend. These invitations consist of 
sticks of cedar, or other wood when that can not be found, measuring — 
from 4 to 6 inches in length and of the thickness of an ordinary lead 
pencil. They may be plain, though the former custom of haying one 
end painted red or green is sometimes continued. The colored band 
is about the width of one-fifth of the length of the stick. It is stated 
that in old times these invitation sticks were ornamented with colored 
porcupine quills, or strands of beads, instead of with paint. 
The courier detailed to deliver invitations is also obliged to state the 
day, and locality of the place of meeting. It is necessary for the invited 
member to present himself and to deposit the invitation stick upon the 
floor of the inclosure in which the meeting is held; should he be deprived 
